From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Maryam Mursal
Maryam Mursal
Maryam Mursal (born January 1, 1950) is a famous musician from Somalia. She is a composer and vocalist. Mursal grew up in a Muslim family with four daughters. As a teenager, she broke tradition and began singing professionally in Mogadishu. She performed in nightclubs and her brand of music, featuring a mix of blues, soul African and Arabic influences, and known as "Somali jazz", became popular across the country. She performed solo and with Waaberi a 300-member music and dance troupe associated with the Somali National Theatre. After criticizing the government, she was banned from singing for two years, and made her living driving a taxi. During the civil war in her homeland, she and her five children moved to Djibouti where she found asylum in the Danish embassy. It was this odyssey that provided the germ of her solo recording The Journey, with guitars, sequencers and back-up vocals from Peter Gabriel. Mursal is in exile, now residing in Denmark. She has toured Europe with Waaberi and appeared with Nina Simone. Her work has been produced by Peter Gabriel’s Real World record label.
Quotes
We as artists are responsible if something wrong is taking place in our society. It’s very important for us to speak up, even though we may have to do it with a double tongue. We have to speak out for our people. I was always the first woman. I was the first woman singing Somali jazz, I was the first star, and I was the first to drive a taxi! I was the first to drive a lorry, and now I’m the first woman from Somalia to have an international record.
Discography
• New Dawn • The Journey
External links
• The Journey: Maryam Mursal • Interview with Maryam Mursal on FindArticles.com • Video interview with Maryam Mursal on Freemuse.org
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maryam_Mursal" Categories: 1950 births, Living people, Somali musicians, Real World artists, Somali singers, Somali Muslims This page was last modified on 4 April 2009, at 18:52 (UTC). All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (See Copyrights for details.) Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a U.S. registered 501(c)(3) taxdeductible nonprofit charity. Privacy policy About Wikipedia Disclaimers
1